Grand Slam CAP - 17 March 2008

Post by **Aleman** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:38 pm

AT wrote:It can only get better Aleman

It can, I was supposed to be out at St John Ambulance on a Patient Handling course tonight, but, There is no way I am going . . . Which means I can get on the beer . . . . . Result!

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:01 pm

Good to hear you salvaged something out of the effort. Like you said it will probably end up being a lovely beer that you won't be able to replicate if you wanted to!

Also I take some comfort that I am not the only one that struggles with things on occasion!

Post by **Aleman** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:43 pm

WelL I have a cornys worth of wort, Pitched 100ml of Saflager W34/70 at 13.4C, and the cooling is switched to drop it to 12C and keep it there.

Thinking back over the day I think I have finally managed to pinpoint the problem. I had a great run off rate initially, and then I started to add the Cereal mash, within 2 or 3 minutes the mash had set solid. Now 3Kg of Corn Meal in 14Kg of grist is only 21% and I have successfully done 30% before . . . What I suspect is that I was premature in adding the Cereal mash, and it hadn't gelatinised completely.

I've got the stuff for a big pilsner batch so I am going to have a go at one of those, in a month or so (We are away over the Spring holiday) and see if this really is the problem.

iowalad · Post by **iowalad** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:29 am

Now your ahead of the game as you figured out the cause!

Vossy1 · Post by **Vossy1** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:18 am

Sounds like a helluva day A

Sorry I missed it

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:23 am

A bit post hocter proc, but I'd have tried underletting a large ammount of very hot liquor quickly, stirring it all up, letting it settle a short while, then run off again, but slowly. Underletting should clear the blocked false bottom, and in the larger volume of liquor the mash bed should settle looser. By getting the temperature up around 75c (no more than 77c) the viscosity of the wort would be reduced, helping the run off.

Failing that - it's into the grain bag!

Post by **Aleman** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:25 pm

Well 14 days later, and the gravity is now 7.2 brix or 1.010, which by my reckoning given teh startging gravity of 1.056 should come out at somewhere near 5% abv. Its a nice pale colour, but currently very cloudy due to yeast, from the crafty samples from the hydrometer jar, there is a very slight citrus aroma, but certainly a fine spicy bitterness from the Saaz B.

I'm turning the temp down now to around 5C to try and drop the bulk of the yeast.. . . I need to insulate the bulk of the FV now. I'm trying to decide if I can get away with leaving this on the primary yeast until I return from 'beer hell' on the 19th April, or do I transfer to a closed secondary . . . .

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:48 pm

Aleman wrote:Well 14 days later, and the gravity is now 7.2 brix or 1.010, which by my reckoning given teh startging gravity of 1.056 should come out at somewhere near 5% abv.

Promash: 7.2 brix down from OG1056 would be about G11.5, and near 5.9% ABV, so drink with care

Post by **Aleman** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:02 pm

Well the Rab Cooling probe won't get the FV down to the temp I desire, so I've just racked the yeasty beer to a Corny to go into the conditioning tank for the next two weeks while I'm in Beer Hell (aka Gran Canaria). The few days at cooler temps has certainly made a difference to the yeast load so that is a good thing

When I get back I'll syphon transfer the beer (which will have been stored at around 0C possibly a little colder) into a dispense keg, From the 'samples' I had restarting the syphon its actually a very nice beer, which is a shame as I really wanted it to be completely crap

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:43 pm

Aleman wrote:while I'm in Beer Hell (aka Gran Canaria).

That's interesting. They used to get some Brit beer there, but that's stopped. My old man has friends there and is talking of importing some decent UK beer to Gran Canaria. I'm going to be contacting a few breweries to gauge interest in the idea of exporting there. He used to have the contract to import Lowenbrau beers into Jugoslavia before it all went tits up in '91

Post by **Aleman** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:08 pm

You can get some interesting beers there, I stumbled across Erdinger Weiss and Dunkel the last time I was there, which made a change from the local swill. I often think it would be nice to set up a brewpub in PLaya Del Ingles, but the local bars would sell at a loss to get rid of you. . . . plus the cost of bringing in supplies, and water is expensive as most for drinking has to be 'made'.

Still nice dream though

SteveD · Post by **SteveD** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:15 pm

Aleman wrote:You can get some interesting beers there, I stumbled across Erdinger Weiss and Dunkel the last time I was there, which made a change from the local swill. I often think it would be nice to set up a brewpub in PLaya Del Ingles, but the local bars would sell at a loss to get rid of you. . . . plus the cost of bringing in supplies, and water is expensive as most for drinking has to be 'made'.

Still nice dream though

That was Dad's initial suggestion - and I ruled it out for much the same reasons as you cite, although it was to operate a standalone brewery and sell to the bars rather than compete with them as a brewpub.

Jim's Beer Kit

Practical Homebrewing

HomeBrew Forum

Sponsored by BREW-SCHOOL

Grand Slam CAP - 17 March 2008